Crossing the Line
by lizwuzthere
Summary: Knockout, playing the part of a good Autobot, isn't supposed to leave the base and he ESPECIALLY isn't supposed to go street racing and endanger humans... But Miko insists that she HAS to experience this racing phenomenon for herself. And what kind of Autobot would he be if Knockout didn't try to accommodate his new human friend?


**This takes place in a nonspecific time period after my Breaking Barriers fic. So KO's an Autobot and Jack's in a wheelchair. That's all you really need to know if you don't wanna read those other fics. So here we go-**

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"WOOO!" Miko stood, slamming down her game controller onto the couch triumphantly. "I smoked you, Jack! Hows it feel to be a looooooser?"

Jack slouched back against the couch, glaring up at Miko as she commenced to make a rather wide range of faces at him while goingnyeeeeeehhhhh! loudly. "You're acting a little to cocky for winning against a guy-" he raised his right arm, firmly sealed in a cast, "who's only using one hand."

"Excuses!" Miko declared, completely ignoring his point. "Besides, you couldn't beat when when you had two hands anyway!" She pressed a thumb into her chest confidently. "I'm the best racer around here, y'know!"

"HA!"

Miko spun around immediately and fixed her glare on the red mech sitting across the room, not even trying to hide the devious grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" Miko said, folding her arms in front of her.

"You are." Knockout replied, carefully keeping up that smug look as he lifted his optics towards the girl. "Playing that silly human game and then calling yourself a racer." He looked back down to the datapad in his servos. "It's funny."

With an irritated huff, Miko practically leapt over the couch and hurried up to the platform railing. "I'll have you know," she began, "that I was all about street racing back in Tokyo!"

"What? How?" Jack spoke up, "You're fourteen. You can't drive!"

"I'm FIFTEEN!" Miko corrected loudly, "And just because I didn't... y'know... participate doesn't mean I wasn't totally into it."

"Riiight. Sure you were, Miko."

Miko clenched her fists, puffing out her chest indignantly. "I was SO! Why do you think I'm so good at that game, huh?"

"I hardly think pressing a few teeny buttons constitutes any real knowledge of street racing." Knockout said, tapping his digits absently against his datapad. "That's something you need to actually experience to get a good hang of. Trust me, I know."

"Oh, and you're so awesome?!" Miko grumbled, turning away.

"Why yes. Yes I am." Knockout purred, ruffling his plating slightly. "Thank you for noticing."

"That's enough." The voice of Ratchet echoed from down the hall as he approached. "I'm not interested in hearing you two bicker again!" he said, glaring in particular at Knockout. Then he turned his attention back to the humans as he stepped up to the groundbridge. "Anyway, it's getting rather late. You both should be heading home."

Miko let out an exasperated groan and slowly made her way down the ramp to the floor. Jack hopped off the couch onto his wheelchair and followed after her. "Hey, Ratchet any chance you could like... drive me home?" he asked as he approached the medic. "The groundbridge is uh... not so friendly to broken bones."

"I suppose, if it's for your physical well-being." Ratchet shrugged. Looking back to the bridge controls he typed in a set of coordinates. "You on the other hand," he said, glancing down at Miko. "will be bridging home."

"Aww, but you'll be out anyway! How come only Jack gets to ride with you?"

"Because I'm an ambulance. Not a taxi." Ratchet scoffed, pulling the activation lever. The groundbridge whirred to life and the green portal sprung open. "Now, off you go." Ratchet continued, shooing her with his servos.

Miko let out an irritated sigh but hurried towards the machine regardless. "Alright. See you guys tomorrow, then!"

Once she had disappeared from sight, Ratchet switched off the bridge. He didn't look away until it was fully powered down and the green glow had vanished, but once it had, he turned towards Jack and transformed into his vehicle mode.

"Your turn, Jack. Let's get going."

It was a little bit of a hassle trying to get Jack inside with his wheelchair. It might have gone more smoothly, except that it took them a little while before they realized Ratchet's back door had a ramp. (after watching them struggle, Knockout had had a good laugh at that discovery) After Jack was safely in the back of the ambulance, the brakes tight on his wheelchair, Ratchet closed his door and started for the exit. He paused as he was about to leave the room, though.

"Knockout." he called back.

The red medic looked up.

"I'll be back in just a short while... don't go messing anything up. And don't go anywhere!"

"Honestly Ratchet," Knockout shrugged, "Where would I go?"

Ratchet just mumbled something under his vents and started off again, disappearing down the hall.

"Try not to have too much fun, kiddies!" Knockout shouted after them. It didn't even make that much sense to say, but he knew it would bother Ratchet, and that was always fun.

Now with that devious smirk back on his face, Knockout looked down at his datapad again... and sighed. His smile faded again. It was so dull sitting around the Autobot base all the time, just pouring over datapads, writing down any intel he could remember or was specifically asked for... So boring. So tedious. So slow. He somewhat wished that little girl hadn't brought up street racing tonight. Scrap, did Knockout miss that! He hadn't been for ages it felt like...

His processor drifted back to all the recent races he'd taken part in. The roar of engines, the smell of burning rubber as they hit a particularly sharp turn, the look of utter devastation from the humans as he blew past them just in front of the finish line... Yeah, it was especially fun to mess with them like that. It sure would be fun to get out there again.

Suddenly, his daydreaming was interrupted by a quiet ahem from the ground below. He turned his optics down and was a little surprised (but not very) to see Miko standing there, hands on her hips, and looking very determined.

"What are you doing here?" Knockout began, "Didn't Ratchet send you home?"

"Nah. I hid between the side bar things in the groundbridge!" Miko said proudly, as if it was the most clever idea she'd ever thought of.

"Yes. Well..." Knockout looked away again. "Ratchet is just going to send you back through it when he gets back."

"No, I'm not gonna be here." Miko insisted, stepping closer to him. "Because you and me are gonna go street racing together!"

This made Knockout pause for a moment. Hmm. He had just been thinking of going again... but no, wait! With Miko?! "Why would I bother taking you street racing?" he finally said, glaring at the girl.

"Because!" Miko started very confidently. Though after that she hesitated a moment as she thought. Then she started again, "Because if you bring a human with you, after you win you don't have to like... rush off or anything!" she said, lifting a finger knowingly. "Yeah, cause if you just go as a driverless vehicle, then once you win, you can't like... stick around for prizes or to rub it in some jerk's face or anything, right?! OH, plus it'll really tick off Ratchet if you leave!"

Knockout paused again. It was really fun watching the humans when they lost. They were such sore losers, it was hilarious! …also Ratchet being angry was also hilarious. "A fair point." he replied, now obviously more intrigued by the idea. "But why exactly do you want to go?"

"Well... see, I've never actually..." Miko mumbled this, turning her gaze away. "I mean... I've seen movies and junk but... I wasn't really... telling the truth before."

"Tell me something I don't know, sweetspark."

Miko clenched her fists angrily, "Yeah, okay! So, are we gonna go or what?"

Knockout chuckled a bit at her anger, but then uncrossed his legs and stood up. "Alright, Miko." he said, placing down his datapad. "The other Autobots don't seem to be around to stop us and I've got nothing better to do... Let's go street racing!"

"YES!" Miko pumped her fist into the air as Knockout stepped over her towards the groundbridge. "So where are we gonna go? There's that ring somewhere in Jasper, right?"

"You're thinking too small." Knockout said, typing in some coordinates. "If you want to really experience street racing, you want somewhere big." He pulled the lever to activate the bridge again. "How about we start with Los Angeles?"

"Oh heck yes!" Miko was practically shaking with excitement. "This is gonna be so freakin' sweet!"

Transforming to his vehicle mode, Knockout popped open his driver side door. "Well, let's not waste any time, then."

Miko started towards him but then paused, "Oh wait, hang on!" She spun back around and quickly climbed up the ladder to the platform.

"Let's go already! I put the bridge on a timer to close!"

"Just a sec I wanna grab- AH! There it is!" Miko came sliding back down the ladder, holding Jack's motorcycle helmet under one arm.

"What's that for? You don't think I would crash, do you?" Knockout sounded genuinely offended.

"No don't be stupid!" Miko said, sitting in the driver's seat and pulling the helmet over her head. "It's like a disguise! Nobody can see my face this way."

"Who in Los Angeles is going to recognize you?" Knockout started for the portal.

"Nobody has to recognize me, they just have to have like, a camera phone or something and an internet connection." Miko reasoned. "It'll come in handy, I'm sure."

"Whatever." With that the two of them disappeared through the portal and shortly after it powered down behind them.


End file.
